Aging your deer meat?

[paulc]

Afternoon all, I process my deer myself-very crudely. Just debone it and freeze. A friend who thinks they know something about says the meat is tough because of how I handle it.  The meat is in the freezer within perhaps 4hrs of hitting the ground.

Thoughts? No way here for me to hang the deer to age. Too hot.  Too cheap/stubborn to pay a processor to do it for me but I guess they might leave it hang for some period of time....

Thanks, Paul

[Pat B]

Paul, I have an old frig that I use. I cut the hams, shoulders, neck, backstrap on the bone and sever the ribs from the spine. I place all these pieces on the racks without touching each other and leave them for 10 to 14 days. When done the outside will be crusted over, almost like a thin coat of jerky. I just trim that off and process the meat for the freezer or grinding. It will be flavorful and very tender.

[JEB]

we quarter ours up and put in frig for at least 5 days before we cut it up.

[TimBo]

You can also age the meat in a cooler with ice water.  I usually hang it if weather permits, but have used a smaller cooler in combination with a dorm refrigerator with good results.  One of these years I will invest in a bigger cooler.

[chamookman]

What Pat B said  ! Bob

[Marc St Louis]

Some suggest that letting the animal get rigor mortise before processing helps to tenderize the meat

[Mesophilic]

Here's a thread from a little while back.   In it there's a link to a Meateater podcast (a little long but very informative), as well as some discussion we had.

https://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,68927.0.html

[paulc]

Sounds like I've been doing things wrong for 20yrs !  New process for next deer....

Followup question-if I left the meat thaw and then age in fridge for 4 or 5 days days before I cook it would there still be the effect of proper aging?

Thanks, Paul

[Hawkdancer]

Give it a try!  Likely won't be any tougher!
Hawkdancer

[Pat B]

Aging is basically controlled decomposition, allowing the muscle fibers to break down slowly and not rot. It probably will help to let it rest in the frig after freezing but be sure the meat is dry after it thaws and keep an eye on it to be sure it doesn't start to go bad.

[Woody roberts]

I prefer to not skin my deer until rigormortis has went back out. This just takes a day or so at 60 deg. Up to 5 days at 33 deg. At 32 deg it goes into suspension and nothing happens.
When I was younger I quartered my deer and kept them in a cooler for 7 days. Just enough ice to say there was ice.

For several years now I have been salt curing my venison. Quartered the same way. Coated heavy with kosher or non iodized salt. Enough ice to keep it cool. Add ice as needed. A few days the meat will be covered in water.
In a couple weeks the water will be getting pretty nasty from all the blood the salt has pulled out of the meat. I hose it off and clean the cooler. Resalt and start over. This time the water stays pretty clean. Leave it at least a week, usually two. Rinse it off good and fill the cooler with clean water and let it soak overnight. If I don’t the meat is too salty to eat.
Then I process as normal. Doesn’t need salt when cooking.
I believe the term for this is buckboard bacon.

[HH~]

You can hang meat at 65 degrees in Shade with a screen or netting on to keep flys and yellow jackets off it. I have hung elk off branches in warmer weather until it was all packed out. Yearlings your can process right up. Anything older i let hang.

[darinputman]

Finished cutting one up yesterday I shot last weekend. I also lay mine on racks in a fridge out in the shop for at least 5 days preferably 7. I also cut the outer dried up meat off the outer before processing (a treat for the dogs). I have done it this way for a few years and in my opinion aging makes a world of difference.

[willie]

I have aged fresh frozen meat after it thaws. you need to take it out of the package so you can monitor it in the fridge, keep it covered so it doesn't dry too much.

if meat does not go thru rigor before it is frozen, it will after.
 
pre-rigor meat will get tough if when it goes into rigor during cooking, frozen or unfrozen.

 this is true of fish also

[Mesophilic]

if meat does not go thru rigor before it is frozen, it will after.
 

I have to disagree with this statement.   When meat freezes the water in the cells expands.  We've all seen this first hand when we put a canned or bottle beverage in the freezer to get cold and then forget about it. 

In the case of meat (and even vegetables) shards of ice pierce the cell walls.  If the muscle cells weren't dead before freezing they certainly are after.  The only way to avoid this is flash freezing where the process happens so fast that the crystals can't form.

To go in to rigor the cells need to be alive and trying to burn up energy stores.